Books in the Academia Sinica on East Asia series

This book provides a comprehensive examination of environmental history in East Asia, ranging temporally from the Ming dynasty to the 21st Century and spatially across China, Japan and Taiwan. Split into four parts, the chapters cover a wide range of fascinating topics, comparing environmental thought and policy in the East and West, the transformation of the landscape, land resource utilization and impact of agriculture and disasters and diseases across the region.

Ang Lee¿s 2007 adaptation of Lust/Caution, became a trigger for heated debates on issues of national identity and political loyalty in the Sinophone media. Indeed, Ang Lee received harsh criticism for being unpatriotic whilst the film's leading actress, Tang Wei, was banned from appearing on screen for two years. This book analyses Ang Lee¿s film adaptation of Eileen Chang¿s original story through the lens of modern literary and film theory, as well as featuring detailed observations of different dialogues and scenes, directorial and authorial decisions and intentions. The theories of Freud, Lacan, Deleuze, Bataille and others are used to identify and clarify issues raised by the film related to gender, sexuality, eroticism, power, manipulation and betrayal; the themes of lust and caution are dealt with in conjunction with the controversial issues of contemporary political consciousness concerning patriotism and the Sino-Japanese War complicated by divided historical experiences and cross-Taiwan Strait relationships. The contributors to this volume cover translation and adaptation, loyalty and betrayal, collaboration and manipulation, playing roles and performativity, whilst the same time intertwining these with issues of national identity, political loyalty, collective memory and gender. As such, the book will appeal to students and scholars of Chinese and Asian cinema and literature, as well as those interested in modern Chinese history and cultural studies.

Focuses on Qian's poetic theory and practice, offering a critical study of his theory of poetic-history (shishi) and poems from the Toubi ji. This book examines the role played by history in early Qing verse, rethinking the nature of loyalism and historical memory in seventeenth-century China.

Explores the institutions through which Taiwan was governed under Japanese colonial rule, illuminating how the administration was engineered and how Taiwan was placed in Japan's larger empire building. This book examines how the Japanese administration was shaped in the specific context of colonial Taiwan, focusing on the legal tradition.

Considers ways in which religious beliefs and practices have contributed to the formation of Chinese legal culture. This book describes two forms of overlap between religion and the law: the ideology of justice and the performance of judicial rituals. It is suitable for scholars of the Chinese legal system.

Highlights the mix of traditional Chinese thought, especially Confucianism and western ideas as well as the personal experiences of the two key thinkers in Modern Chinese History, reassessing the transition of China's cultural tradition and its modern fate in a world-wide perspective.

Views the Neo-Sensation mode of writing as a traveling genre, or style, that originated in France, moved on to Japan, and then to China. This book contends that modernity is possible only on 'the transcultural site' - transcultural in the sense of breaking the divide between elite and popular, literary and non-literary, and inside and outside.

This book explores aspects of this vibrant market economy in late imperial China, and by presenting a reconstructed narrative of economic development in the early modern Jiangnan, provides new perspectives on established theories of Chinese economic development. Further, by examining economic values alongside social structures, this book produces a historically comprehensive account of the contemporary Chinese economy which engenders a deeper and broader understanding of Chinäs current economic success.

This book examines the local realities and environmental changes in East Asia, and is one of a few publications in English on the subject. Contributors apply rich historical material, maps and statistical data to reveal the local environmental realities infused by global perspectives. Covering the geographical areas of Japan, North and Northwest China, the Lower Yangzi Delta and Taiwan, and the timeframe spanning the seventh century BC to the present day, the book will be of great interest to anyone studying the history of East Asia, environmental history or environmental studies.

This book explores aspects of this vibrant market economy in late imperial China, and by presenting a reconstructed narrative of economic development in the early modern Jiangnan, provides new perspectives on established theories of Chinese economic development. Further, by examining economic values alongside social structures, this book produces a historically comprehensive account of the contemporary Chinese economy which engenders a deeper and broader understanding of Chinäs current economic success.

This edited volume engages with some of the most dynamic themes in current research on East Asian environmental history, including agricultural science, war and the environment, imperial forestry, oceanic history, and the history of energy.